On Sun, Jul 18, 2004 at 11:03:49AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I suppose this has wandered far enough OT from Linux that I can weigh > in on it... > > After using Nikon's website/email support, I will not buy > anything else. > > I bought a dead (as it turned out) Nikon film scanner at a swap > meet a couple of years back, plugged it into Windoze, and started > in on it. I found every piece of documentation that was supposed > to come with the unit on-line. Nikon's support team helped me > troubleshoot it, and when their front-line support group couldn't > figure it out they quickly transferred me to their specialists who > diagnosed a blown SCSI terminator fuse and assisted me in > disassembling and repairing the unit. They answered my emails > within 2 hours *even on weekends*. They were so efficient that > I *never had to make a phone call*. I ended up paying $75.00 > for a working $1200 film scanner. > > After getting that kind of support from Nikon on one of their > products that wasn't on warranty and wasn't even bought from > one of their dealers, I didn't even bother looking at other > cameras when I went to buy a digital camera, because I *know* > I'm going to get into software and interface trouble with it just > like I do with everything else, and at least with Nikon I know I > won't end up having to deal with a third-world something with a > third-grade education who only speaks Fungoolistani and can't wait to > get > rid of me as soon as my question isn't in its hotline cookbook. > When it comes to computerized electronics, I'll even give up some > performance or features to get support. (What good are the > performance and features if you can't get the @#$%^&*! thing working??) > > (P.S.: If anyone knows anything about Linux support for Nikon, please > point me at it; I'll probably need it eventually...) > > (N.B.: I will, for identically converse reasons relating to support, > NEVER buy ANYTHING from Fuji EVER again - not even so much as a roll > of film. And I hope somebody from both Nikon and Fuji is reading this.) >
In that case I would also suggest you avoid anything Sony. I've never seen worse customer support (and that even for very high end equipment company customers, not just the small end user), and when they do bother making a proper piece of hardware they seriously cripple it with their copyright paranoia (see NetMD for example). As for nikon, I am using a film camera but very happy with it. High quality hardware and glass. For digital, cannon seem to be a bit ahead now in terms of hardware (cmos vs. ccd). I am looking at linux support for coolpix 4500, and it seems to exist (haven't had a chance to test yet, its not mine). Nikon seems to support both mass storage and ptp on their cameras. For some more information have a look http://www.teaser.fr/~hfiguiere/linux/digicam.html Canon may be a bit more troublesome, then nikon. You should look for a camera with both usb-storage support (easiest way to download pictures) and ptp support which will give you access to some more advanced camera features. I am not sure if it will allow you to access all the features of the camera from linux (some of the high end cameras are customizable and may require dedicated software). Also look at the gphoto site to see what they support to be sure www.gphoto.org > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System > at the Tel-Aviv University CC. > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
